1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle AC generator including a rectifier for rectifying an AC generated by a stator coil into a DC and a regulator for regulating an AC voltage generated by the stator coil.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, the following vehicle AC generator is known. The vehicle AC generator includes a regulator case and a capacitor case. The regulator case houses a regulator board for voltage regulation therein. The capacitor case is superposed on an opening of the regulator case in a planar manner and houses a capacitor element therein. The capacitor case and the regulator case are both fixed to a bracket by using bolts (for example, see JP 05-219704 A).
However, the vehicle AC generator having the aforementioned structure has the following problems. The capacitor case is superposed on the regulator case while bolt through-holes of the capacitor case and the regulator case are brought into alignment. Then, the bolts are caused to pass through the plurality of bolt through-holes being in alignment to screw the regulator case and the capacitor case together in an integrated manner. Therefore, an assembly operation becomes disadvantageously complicated.
Moreover, two components, that is, the regulator case and the capacitor case, are required. Therefore, the number of components is correspondingly increased.
In addition, in the conventional vehicle AC generator, the capacitor case is filled with an epoxy resin which is then solidified, thereby firmly fixing the capacitor element in the capacitor case. For each of electronic components exposed on the regulator board inside the regulator case, however, for example, a welded portion of a terminal of an electronic component is likely to be damaged due to a vibration or the like.